by J. D. Robb
Scattered over all were white rose petals.
‘Wow.’ She looked toward the window again. The view, those towering peaks, the miles of white, did something odd to her throat. ‘What are those?’
‘A simulation of the Swiss Alps.’ One of his greatest delights was watching her reaction to something new. The initial wariness that was the cop, the slow bloom of pleasure that came from the woman. ‘I’ve never managed to take you there in reality. A holographic chalet is the next best thing.’
Turning, he picked up a robe that was draped over a chair. ‘Why don’t you put this on?’
She reached for it, frowned. ‘What is it?’
‘A robe.’
She shot him a bland look. ‘I know that. I meant what’s it made of? Is this mink?’
‘Sable.’ He stepped forward. ‘Why don’t I help you?’
‘You’re in a mood, aren’t you?’ she murmured as he began unbuttoning her shirt.
His hands skimmed over her bare shoulders as he brushed the shirt aside. ‘It seems I am. In a mood to seduce my wife. Slowly.’
Need was already kindling, spreading. ‘I don’t need seduction, Roarke.’
He laid his lips on her shoulder. ‘I do. Sit.’ He nudged her down so he could tug off her boots. Then, bracing his hands on the arms of the chair, he leaned over and took her mouth again.
Just mouth to mouth, warm and soft, a skillfully tender sliding of lips and tongue, a cleverly gentle scrape of teeth. Her muscles quivered, then went lax. Feeling her surrender was his own seduction.
Drawing her to her feet, he unhooked her trousers. ‘The wanting of you never stops.’ His fingers skimmed over her hips; the trousers pooled at her feet. ‘The loving of you never peaks. There’s always more.’
Undone, she leaned against him, her face buried in his hair. ‘Nothing’s the same for me since you.’
He held her a moment, for the simple pleasure of it. Then, reaching down, he lifted the robe and draped the soft pelt over her shoulders. ‘For either of us.’
He picked her up and carried her to the bed.
And her arms reached out for him.
She knew what it would be like. Overwhelming, unsettling. Glorious. She’d come to crave each separate sensation he could bring her, to crave the feel of him against her the way she did air or water.
Without thinking of it, and unable to survive without it.
There was nothing she couldn’t give, or take, when their bodies came together. Sunk deep in the feather bed she met his mouth eagerly, reveling in the slow burn of her blood. Sighing, she tugged at his shirt, helping him shrug it aside so flesh could meet flesh.
The long and lovely slide of it. A slow roll, a low moan. The silk of the petals, the satin of the spread, the ripple of muscle under her hands - all tangled together in an exotic mix of textures.
The quick, bounding leap of the heart. A delicious shiver, a soft sigh. The flicker of candlelight, the spill of the moon, the shifting shimmer from the fire melded into one sumptuous glow.
She tasted and was tasted. She touched and was touched. Aroused and was aroused. And trembled her way up the long curve of a peak as smooth as polished silver.
He felt her rise up, shudder, then slide lazily down again. Their limbs tangled as they rolled over the bed, to touch again, to adjust the fit of bodies. He could see the lights flicker over her face, her hair, in her eyes, the rich brandy of them. Eyes he could watch go glassy as he nudged her, inch by inch, toward that peak again.
Her hands, strong, capable, and beautifully familiar, moved over him, a grip, a caress. Quiet sounds of pleasure hummed in her throat, sighed into his mouth, whispered over his skin.
His breath began to quicken, and need became a thunder in the blood. Warmth turned to heat and heat to a dangerous flash.
Then she was rising over him, her body slim and silvered in the shift of light and shadow. Her moan was long, a throaty sound of greed as she lowered to him, enclosed him, took him in. When his fingers dug into her hips, she arched back into a gleaming curve, rocking, rocking, with her eyes golden brown slits, her breath rushing between parted lips.
She tightened around him when the orgasm slashed through her, then curled into him when he reared up, when his mouth fixed hungrily on her breast.
Lost now, captured, he pushed her back so both her mind and body went spinning. And he drove into her, one wild animal thrust after another, with a sudden pounding greed that ripped her past control. Her fingers wrapped around the thin, curving tubes of the headboard, gripping hard as if to anchor herself, a scream of mindless pleasure strangling in her throat as he pushed her knees back to go deeper.
When her body erupted beneath him, his mouth swooped down to hers. And he let himself go.
She was covered with rose petals and nothing else. Those slim, disciplined muscles were as lax as the melted candlewax pooled fragrantly beneath the white tapers.
As her breathing slowed to normal, Roarke nibbled at her shoulder, then he rose to get the robe and draped it over her.
Her response was a grunt.
Both amused and pleased that that was the best she could do, he moved to the far corner of the room and ordered the jet tub to fill at one hundred and one degrees. He popped the cork on a bottle of champagne, set it back in its bucket of ice, then snatched his limp wife off the bed.
‘I wasn’t asleep.’ She said it quickly and with the slurred tone that told him that’s just what she’d been.
‘You’ll blame me in the morning if I let you sleep and you don’t do your probability scan.’ With this, he dumped her in the hot, frothing water.
She yelped once, then moaned in sheer, sensual delight. ‘Oh God. I want to live here, right here in this tub, for about a week.’
‘Arrange for some time off and we’ll go to the Alps for real and you can soak in a tub until you turn into one big pink wrinkle.’
It was exactly what he wanted - to take her away, to see that she was completely healed and recovered. And he imagined he had as much chance of doing so as he had of convincing her to kiss Summerset on the mouth.
The image of that even made him grin.
‘Joke?’ she asked lazily.
‘Oh, it would be a delightful one.’ He handed her a flute and, taking his own, climbed in to join her.
‘I have to get to work.’
‘I know.’ He let out a long breath. ‘Ten minutes.’
The combination of hot water and icy champagne was just too good to refuse. ‘You know, before you, my breaks used to consist of a cup of bad coffee and a . . . a cup of bad coffee,’ she decided.
‘I know, and they still do entirely too often. This,’ he said and sank a little deeper, ‘is a much superior way to recharge.’
‘Hard to argue.’ She lifted her leg, examined her toes for no particular reason. ‘I don’t think he’s going to give me much time, Roarke. He’s working on a deadline.’
‘How much do you have?’
‘Not enough. Not nearly enough.’
‘You’ll get more. I’ve never known a better cop. And I’ve known more than my share.’
She frowned into her wine. ‘It’s not out of rage, not yet. It’s not for profit. It’s not, that I can find, for revenge. He’d be easier to track if I had a motive.’
‘Love. True love.’
She cursed softly. ‘My true love. But you can’t have twelve true loves.’
‘You’re being rational. You’re thinking a man can’t love more than one women with equal degrees of fervor. But he can.’
‘Sure, if his heart is in his dick.’
With a laugh, Roarke opened one eye. ‘Darling Eve, it’s often impossible to separate the two. For some,’ he added, mistrusting the quick glint in her eye, ‘physical attraction most usually proceeds the finer emotions. What you may not be considering is that he might very well believe each of them the love of his life. And if they didn’t agree, the only way he can convince them is to take their lives.’<
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‘I have considered it. But it isn’t enough to give me a full picture. He loves what he can’t have, and what he can’t have he destroys.’ She jerked her shoulder. ‘I hate all the goddamn symbolism. It muddles things up.’
‘You have to give him points for theatrical flare.’
‘Yeah, and I’m counting on that to be what trips him up. When it does, I’m tossing jolly old St Nick in a cage. Time’s up,’ she announced and rose out of the water.
She’d just flicked a towel from a heated bar when she heard the muffled beep on her communicator. ‘Shit.’ Dripping, she dashed across the room to snatch up her trousers and pull it from the pocket.
‘Block video,’ she muttered. ‘Dallas.’
‘Dispatch, Dallas, Lieutenant Eve. DAS at 432 Houston. Apartment 6E. Report to scene immediately as primary.’
‘Dispatch.’ She dragged a hand through her damp hair. ‘Acknowledged. Contact Peabody, Officer Delia as adjutant.’
‘Affirmative. Dispatch out.’
‘DAS?’ Roarke picked up the robe to drape it over her again.
‘Dead at scene.’ She heaved the towel aside and, bending, tugged on the trousers. ‘Damn it, goddamn it, that’s Donnie Ray’s apartment. I just interviewed him today.’
Donnie Ray had loved his mother. That was the first thing Eve thought of as she looked at him.
He was on the bed, draped in green garland that sparkled with gold flecks. His buttery hair had been carefully styled to flow against the pillow. His eyes were shut so that lashes, lengthened and dyed a deep, antique gold lay against his cheeks. His lips matched the tone perfectly. Around his right wrist, just over the raw and broken skin, was a thick bracelet with three pretty birds etched into hammered gold.
‘Three calling birds,’ Peabody said from behind her. ‘Shit, Dallas.’
‘He changed sexes, but he’s keeping to pattern.’ Eve’s voice was flat as she shifted aside so that the body would be in full view for the record. ‘There’s bound to be a tattoo on him, and probable signs of sexual abuse. Ligature marks hands and feet, as with previous victims. We need any security discs from the hallway and the outer building.’
‘He was a nice guy,’ Peabody murmured.
‘Now he’s a dead guy. Let’s do the job.’
Peabody stiffened, the slightest of movements that had her shoulders going straight as a ruler. ‘Yes, sir.’
They found the tattoo on his left buttock. If that and the clear signs of sodomy affected her, Eve didn’t let it show. She did the preliminary, had the scene secured, ordered the initial door-to-doors, and had the body bagged for transport.
‘We’ll check his ’link,’ she told Peabody. ‘Get his date book, any data you can find on Personally Yours. I want the sweepers in here tonight.’
She moved down the short hall to the bathroom, pushed the door open. Walls, floor, and fixtures sparkled like the sun. ‘We can assume our man cleaned this. Donnie Ray wasn’t too concerned about cleanliness being next to godliness.’
‘He didn’t deserve to die this way.’
‘Nobody deserves to die this way.’ Eve stepped back, turned. ‘You liked him. So did I. Now put it away, because it doesn’t do a damn thing for him now. He’s gone, and we have to use what we find here to help us get to number four before we lose another.’
‘I know that. But I can’t help feeling. Jesus, Dallas, we were in here joking with him a few hours ago. I can’t help feeling,’ she repeated in a furious whisper. ‘I’m not like you.’
‘You think he gives a damn what you feel now? He wants justice not grief, not even pity.’ She marched into the living area, kicking away scattered cups and shoes to vent a little of her frustration.
‘Do you think he cares that I’m pissed off?’ She whirled back, eyes blazing. ‘Being pissed off doesn’t do anything for him, and it clouds my judgment. What am I missing? What the hell am I missing? He leaves it all here, in front of my face. The son of a bitch.’
Peabody said nothing for a moment. It wasn’t, she thought, the first time she’d mistaken Eve’s cool professionalism for a lack of heart. After all the months they’d worked together, she realized she should know better. She drew a deep breath.
‘Maybe he’s giving us too much, and it’s scattering our focus.’
Eve’s eyes narrowed, and the fists she’d jammed in her pockets relaxed. ‘That’s good. That’s very good. Too many angles, too much data. We need to pick a channel and zoom in. Start the search here, Peabody,’ she ordered as she pulled out her communicator. ‘It’s going to be a long night.’
She stumbled home at four A.M. riding on the high-octane, low-quality faux caffeine of Cop Central coffee. Her eyes felt sticky, her stomach raw, but she thought her mind was still sharp enough to do the job.
Still, she jerked and had a hand on her weapon when Roarke came into her home office a few paces behind her.
‘What the hell are you doing up?’ she demanded.
‘I might ask the same, Lieutenant.’
‘I’m working.’
He lifted a brow and took her chin in his hand to study her face. ‘Overworking,’ he corrected.
‘I ran out of real coffee in my AutoChef, had to drink that sewage they brew at Central. A couple of hits of the good stuff and I’ll be fine.’
‘A couple of hours unconscious, you’ll be better.’
Though it was tempting, she didn’t shove his hand away. ‘I’ve got a meeting at oh eight hundred. I have to prep.’
‘Eve.’ He shot her a warning glance when she hissed at him, then calmly laid his hands on her shoulders. ‘I’m not going to interfere with your work. But I will remind you that you won’t do your job well if you’re asleep on your feet.’
‘I can take a booster.’
‘You?’ And he smiled when he said it, making her lips twitch.
‘I may have to hit the departmental-approved drugs before it’s over. He’s not giving me any time, Roarke.’
‘Let me help.’
‘I can’t use you every time it gets tough.’
‘Why?’ His hands began to knead the tension out of her shoulders. ‘Because I’m not on the departmental-approved list?’
‘That would be one.’ The shoulder massage was relaxing her a bit too much. She felt her mind drift, and wasn’t able to snap it back to clarity again. ‘I’ll take two hours downtime. Two hours to prep should be enough. But I’ll crash in here.’
‘Good idea.’ It was simple enough to guide her to the sleep chair. Her bones were like rubber. He slipped down with her, ordered the chair to full recline.
‘You should go to bed,’ she murmured, but turned her body into his.
‘I prefer sleeping with my wife when the opportunity arises.’
‘Two hours . . . I think I have an angle.’
‘Two hours,’ he agreed, and shut his eyes when he felt her go limp.
Chapter Eight
‘There’s something I should tell you.’ Roarke waited until Eve scooped up the last of an egg-white omelette, and smiled at her as he topped off her coffee. ‘About the Natural Perfection beauty products.’
She only stared at him as she swallowed. ‘You own the company.’
‘It’s a line of a company that’s part of an organization that’s a branch of Roarke Industries.’ He smiled again as he sipped his coffee. ‘So, in a word, yes.’
‘I already knew it.’ She jerked a shoulder, gaining some satisfaction at seeing his eyebrows lift at her careless reaction. ‘I actually thought I might get through a case without you being connected.’
‘You really have to get over that, darling. And since I do own it,’ he continued as she bared her teeth at him, ‘I should be able to help you track the products used on the victims.’
‘We’re stumbling along there on our own.’ She pushed away from the little table and paced to her desk. ‘Logically, the products were purchased at the location where the victims were chosen. Going on that assumption, I can whi
ttle down the choices to a short list. Those enhancements are obscenely expensive.’
‘You get what you pay for,’ Roarke said easily.
‘Lip dye at two hundred credits a tube for Christ’s sake.’ She shot him a narrow-eyed glance. ‘You ought to be ashamed of yourself.’
‘I don’t set the price.’ Now he grinned at her. ‘I just manage the profit.’
A couple of hours of sleep and a hot meal had recharged her, he noted. She wasn’t pale now, or quite so heavy-eyed. He rose, walking to her to skim his thumbs over the faint shadows under her eyes. ‘Would you like to sit in on a board meeting and lobby for a price adjustment?’
‘Ha ha.’ When he brushed his lips over hers, she struggled to keep her own from curving. ‘Go away, I need to focus.’
‘In a minute.’ He kissed her again, nudging a sigh out of her. ‘Why don’t you tell me about it? It’ll help you to think out loud.’
She sighed again, leaned for a moment, then drew back. ‘There’s an ugliness to this because he’s using something that symbolizes hope and innocence. This kid last night . . . damn it, he was harmless.’
‘The others were women. What does it tell you?’
‘That he’s bisexual. That his idea of true love crosses genders. The male victim was raped, just as the women were, bound like them, marked like them, and painted up like them after he’d finished.’
She moved away, idly picking up her coffee to drink. ‘He’s getting them from Personally Yours, obviously scanning their videos and personal data. He might have dated the women, but not Donnie Ray. Donnie was straight hetero. The shift makes me think he hasn’t met any of the victims face-to-face, at least not in a romantic sense. It’s all fantasy.’
‘He chooses people who live alone.’
‘He’s a coward. Doesn’t want any real confrontation. He tranqs them right off, gets them restrained. It’s the only way he can be sure he’ll have the power, the control.’
Her thoughts veered back and settled once again on Rudy. Setting the coffee down again, she dragged a hand through her hair. ‘He’s smart, and obsessive. He’s even predictable on several levels. That’s how I’ll nail him.’